The Start of Something New
by SJ Apostolos
Summary: A love story about the beginning of a complicated relationship between DIck Grayson and Barbara Gordon...


CHAPTER 1

Day #1

"What is it, Dick, I know there's something you're not telling me, I know you too well, what's bothering you? Come on, you know you can tell me anything..."

"I-I can't tell you this...it's-it's just...I can't," he turned away pretending to look at the moon. They sat on the brick wall separating the city from the country. A tear fell down Barbara's cheek. Her hand flew up to wipe away the tear before Dick saw it, but she was a little slow and he looked down embarrassed that he had hurt her feelings.

"I-I just don't understand, Dick, one day we're best friends and the next day you can't tell me what's on your mind...what's troubling you."

"It's really hard to explain...what's troubling me...I'm not even sure I know what it is. I'm sorry I hurt you...I-I have to go." he sat up and got ready to get off the wall, but she reached out and touched his shoulder.

"No, don't go...I-I want you to stay." he looked to her, confused.

"What?"

"I-I don't want you to...I don't want you to go." He set his hand on her knee.

"Then I'll stay."

"Okay, Dick, if you won't tell me what's on your mind, then I guess I have to tell you what's on my mind..."

"I love you..." he blurted, shocked with himself. He blushed a deep red, looking down.

"Dick..."

"Don't speak, just listen..." he put his finger to her lips. He stroked her cheek gently, and leaned towards her and kissed her cheek lightly. He pulled away and smiled at her, then jumped lightly down onto the ground and ran off into the night. She sighed smiling. He had always been and always would be very mysterious...

Day #2

Barbara walked the three blocks to the wall where they had agreed to meet every night. She looked around to see if he was already there, but she didn't see him anywhere.

"Hey," Dick shouted from the street, smiling confidently.

"Hey, yourself, what are you so happy about?"

"Oh, I don't know I guess I had a good night last night," he grinned.

"Oh, really now and what was it exactly that made last night so...to put it in your words...good?" she teased. They walked towards the wall, but they met before they got to it. His hand brushed hers and she could tell he wanted to hold hers so she took the initiative herself. Their fingers interlocked and swung back and forth as they headed towards the wall. He gave her a boost and then followed jumping onto the rough bricks. He looked into her eyes and she looked into his, they were dark, brown with big pupils she always noticed people's eyes. Always.

"Barbara?"

"Dick..."

"We..."

"I know..."

"Okay..."

"I need to know if...if the kiss..."

"If the kiss meant anything?"

"Yeah...I just need to know..."

"I...I'm sorry I need to think about it..." Barb frowned slightly, but then caught herself not wanting Dick to worry.

"Can you help me think Barb?" he reach his hand up to her cheek tilting her face up to look at him. He scooted closer to her until she could rest her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head tenderly. "This is just...so much better than I ever could have wished. It's a lot to take in."

"I understand Dick."

"I should go."

"No!"

"No, really I should go, I can tell I've hurt you. I'm sorry." He hopped off the wall and began to run. He didn't even run towards his house he just ran as fast as he could. Barb's shoulders shook with her soft sobs. She knew she was loosing him before she even really had him. Slowly Barb slid down the brick wall. She called her mom and told her that she was staying at a friends house. Barb curled up at the base of the wall and cried until it was dark. She didn't sleep...she couldn't sleep she just sat and thought and cried.

"Barbara!" she heard her name, someone calling for her from far away. At first she was pretty sure she was hallucinating, but when she saw his light blue sweater coming towards her in the distance she knew.

"Barbara! It's me!"

"I don't want to see you!" she managed to choke out once he got close enough to hear her.

"And I understand, but I know now that I was stupid and I shouldn't have done what I did...just...please forgive me..." she looked up into his eyes and could see how hurt he was. His face twisted in the confusion of the feelings that were reeling through his head, one after the other, new emotions, emotions he'd never felt, thrown at him just to befuddle him, just to make it harder for him. "I know I hurt you and I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to...honest! Ah crud, I should just shut up before I say something really dumb..." He kneeled in front of her. "I sure hope this works," he thought before leaning in towards her and kissing her as lovingly as he could, as if he were attempting to send his emotions and his passion for her into her, his kiss blurred away the rest of the world, forcing her to close her eyes and kiss back. There was so much to take in, his breath, as if he were giving her his life, entrusting her with the air he treasured so dearly. She pulled away, confused, sad, and happy all at once.

"I..."

"I know...it's okay...is it okay?" he reassured her first and then questioned his own well-being, already he was putting her happiness above his.

"It's okay..." she wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace. She felt a warm, salty tear drop on her shoulder.

"I thought I'd lost you...I thought I'd lost my opportunity..."

"Well I'm here now, Dick...and you didn't lose anything."

Day #3

"Barbara?"

"Yeah?"

"There's something I need to tell you...something you can never tell anyone..."

"Me too, I have something to tell you that you can never tell anyone."

"Same time?"

"Okay"

"1...2...3!" They both blurted:

"I'm Batgirl!"

"I'm Robin!" at the same time they looked into each other's eyes, stunned.

"Robin? Is that really you?"

"Batgirl? Holy unnoticeable!"

"Oh gosh, I can't believe we didn't recognize each other! I feel really dumb."

"Barbara how about we both run behind these two trees and change into our costumes because I see the bat-signal in the sky right now!"

"On it!" they ran and changed in the blink of an eye. Racing to the city the yelled for people to get out of the way to safety, and that's when they saw him. Mr. Freeze. He was about as evil as they get. He enjoyed freezing people in blocks of ice and watching them die. They ran as fast as they could to his lair, which is actually fairly simple to find because it is absolutely freezing for a mile around it. Robin kicked through the icy doors leading to the center of Mr. Freeze's hideout.

"Let me go in first, Batgirl!"

"If you insist..."

"I do..." He kicked through the last door stumbling into Mr. Freeze himself.

"Robin! I haven't heard from you in a while! Hahahahahhaha!" he laughed maliciously, "Die, Bird Boy!" he shot his freeze gun at Robin, encasing him in a block of ice with only enough room to twitch slightly in pain. Batgirl, hearing the gun go off, charged into the room. When she saw the block of ice containing Robin she fell to the floor.

"No!" she sobbed, "what have you done?"

"Why I only cooled him down a little! Hahahahahhaha!"

"Robin!" she punched the ice as hard as she could trying to find a way to free him, "Noooooo! Please...unfreeze him please...you can do anything to me ju-" Superman crashed through the door. He punched the glass helmet encasing Mr. Freeze's head nocking him out cold. Batgirl lay next to the block of ice her face to the ground. Superman flipped the switch on the freeze gun to 'unfreeze,' pointed it at Robin and unfroze him. Robin fell to the floor in a heap, getting Batgirl's attention finally, she ran to him and wrapped her arms around his shivering body cradling his head in her gloved hands. He blinked his eyes open and looked at her.

"Am I dead?" he asked, frightened.

"No! No, you are very much alive," she reassured him, tears ran down her cheeks. He sat up slowly, supporting himself on his elbow. She tightened her grasp on him and he wrapped his arms around her. She shook with her sobs.

"Shhhhhhhhh-sh-sh-sh" he caressed, "it's okay...shhh" they sat there for a while in each other's arms.

Day #4

On his way to the wall he spotted a single rose growing on the side of the sidewalk. He stopped and picked it gently. It reminded Dick of Barbara. Continuing on his way he contemplated what they would talk about, after their extremely traumatic incident. He hoped she wouldn't cry again, it made him so sad to see her cry. He wasn't exactly sure why but he just wanted her to be happy, that made him feel good too.

"Hey, Dick!" she called from the base of the wall. He quickly shifted the flower behind his back.

"Hey, Barb!" he could see she was happy.

"What's behind your back?"

"Well actually, I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Oh, really?" she mocked playfully.

"Really," he stepped close to her, "about that first kiss..." he pulled the rose from behind his back, "it did mean something," he put his hand to the back of her head and kissed her tentatively on the lips, drawing her closer to him. They broke for a moment and his lips parted slightly, locking around hers.

"What about that one?" she teased, "did that one mean something?"

"Hmm..." he scratched at his chin in mock thought, "I'm not sure, let's see if I can make one that does!" He kissed her again and again and again gently and she began to giggle like a little girl. He ran his fingers through her hair and rested his forehead against hers.

"Why are you so nice to me?" she asked half-seriously.

"Why are you so amazing?" he wrapped his arms around her and they swayed back and forth with the wind. His chin rested on her head and he felt her chuckle giddily under her breath. They stood there for a while and she could feel the warmth of his love. He smiled as he thought of her pleasant grin and she tipped her head back to look into his eyes. His gentle embrace was soft as a silk cocoon weaving itself around her. The wind seemed to swirl around leaving them untouched, perfect and innocent. "Shall we meet again, milady?" he teased hopefully.

"The same time tomorrow, my love..." he hoped she meant that last part, but he knew he shouldn't get his hopes up too high. They had only been dating for a few days even though he had been in love with her since the day they met three years before.

Day #5

As Barbara walked slowly to the wall she prayed she wouldn't see anyone she knew. Suddenly she stopped, she'd had the strangest feeling she was near someone familiar, couldn't quite put her finger on it though...

"Barbara?" a stranger called. She turned her head to see if she knew the face that matched the voice.

"Barry?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh, my! It's really you!" she ran to him and hugged him as tight as she could.

"Uh...yeah, it's me alright, so how've you been, Barb?"

"Great! And you?"

"Great...I guess. So...I-uh-I-um-heard you're dating Dick Grayson now..."

"Yeah, I guess I am," she looked into his sad eyes and she could see the pain he was in. "It's only been a few days but..."

"Well-I-I better go, I-uh-have some-some-uh-stuff to do...yeah, stuff to do..." he muttered in a sad attempt to convince himself that what he said was true.

Meanwhile, across the street, Dick saw the whole conversation, the hug, the look of love on Barry's face, he saw it all. A tear fell from his sea-blue eyes, at first he walked, then ran along the wall, the salty droplets sliding down his cheek only to fall from his chin to the cold, dry ground. Cold rain began to fall from the dark clouds joining his tears on the ground. How could she have done such a thing. How could she have hurt him so deeply.

Barbara had heard Dick running along the wall, she had heard his soft sobs and she knew she had to make a decision.


End file.
